Document

Health workers at Donovan state prison in Otay Mesa made up 38 of the 50 highest-earning state employees in the county last year, according to a review by The Watchdog of the state’s 2010 payroll.

The 14 psychiatrists, 12 physicians and surgeons, nine dentists, two nurses and one counselor at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility were paid between $183,473 and $264,780.

The finding is reflected in the statewide top 50, which lists 30 health workers at correctional facilities or mental health hospitals, according to the data.

The Watchdog has been reviewing public compensation in reaction to last year’s scandal in the Los Angeles suburb of Bell over outsized city salaries.

Aside from prison health care officials, seven of the other top 50 highest-paid state civil-service workers employed in San Diego County during 2010 were judges serving in California’s 4th District Court of Appeal. They made between $199,873 and $207,868.

Other workers in the top 50 included two Department of Social Services employees and one physician working for the Department of Veterans Affairs at the Chula Vista Veterans Home, who made $191,009.

The Watchdog review did not examine the salaries of University of California and California State University employees, some of whom earned more than $1 million during 2010.

The review focused on earnings of employees of state departments working in San Diego County, excluding career-end payouts of accumulated vacation and sick time.

The review included all overtime, bonuses, fringe benefits and other pay-boosters such as uniform allowances, bilingual pay or hazard pay.

Forestry and Fire Protection boosted the base pay of its employees the most during 2010, mainly due to overtime paid during emergencies, allowances for uniforms, and other pay differentials such as paramedic pay and hazardous materials expert pay.

The Watchdog examined the pay of full-time employees who worked throughout the year at the top five state departments that employed the largest number of San Diego County workers during 2010.

The median pay of full-time employees at the California Highway Patrol was the highest among the five departments, at $103,531. The lowest median pay went to workers of the Department of Employment Development, at $49,535.

Among the top-paid officials in those five departments, the head of the Department of Parks and Recreation was the lowest paid. Clayton A. Phillips, superintendent of the San Diego Coast District, made $107,747 in 2010. He oversaw 10 parks, 340 full- and part-time employees, and an operating budget of $9 million during 2010.

“I’m comfortable with my salary, and am very glad I have a well-paying job during this tough economic period,” Phillips said, adding that many of his staff make less than comparable private-sector workers. “I consider myself fortunate to have a job I love; it’s a career that I feel contributes to the health of society and our planet.”

As for the prison health officials who dominated the top of the list, they said the day-to-day challenges are immense.

“You don’t walk through the doors of a Kaiser or a Mercy every day and worry about coming home each night,” California Corrections Health Care Services spokeswoman Nancy Kincaid said.

Prison health staff salaries have increased in recent years largely as a result of court orders. One federal class-action lawsuit filed against the state in 2001 alleged that the state’s prison health care services were so bad they violated the U.S. Constitution’s ban against cruel and unusual punishment. The case was settled, but when the state hadn’t improved the conditions by 2005, the courts took control of prison health care from the state and appointed a federal receiver to oversee the operation.

At the time the receiver was appointed, an average of one inmate a week died in California’s prisons as a result of the constitutional deficiencies.

Many prison physicians at the time had prior criminal charges, had previously had their privileges revoked by hospitals or had mental health related problems, just some of the numerous deficiencies identified by the court that ranged from poor medical record-keeping to bad supervision.

One doctor testified that the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation would hire any doctor who had “a license, a pulse and a pair of shoes.”

Aside from meeting the requirements of the Constitution, Kincaid said Correctional Health Care Services also works to prevent the effects inmates’ medical or mental health conditions may have on the public if they go untreated. Some 10,000 inmates are released from California’s prisons each year.

“They are going to take that disease back into the community if they are not treated,” Kincaid said. “It is essential that this is done in prison, otherwise you are putting others that they come into contact with at risk.”